A Question About Missing Limb- Phantom Limb Sensation...?!
Question: My 80 year old mother (due to cancer) Had her leg removed, and is complainling about having : Phantom pain causing discomfort. Described as a burning or similarly strange sensation and can be extremely agonizing; Also cold & and tingling. What can we do to help her, or is there anything she can do to make herself better. Thank you for any kind of a answer on this mater.
Answers: My 80 year old mother (due to cancer) Had her leg removed, and is complainling about having : Phantom pain causing discomfort. Described as a burning or similarly strange sensation and can be extremely agonizing; Also cold & and tingling. What can we do to help her, or is there anything she can do to make herself better. Thank you for any kind of a answer on this mater.
Phantom pain can be as bad or worse than pain from an existing limb as it is more difficult to treat with the leg missing.
Yes, there are things you can do to help her with the pain. One is wrapping the stump properly. A tight bandage seems to relieve some of the pain. Avoid any sudden temperature changes. When you remove the stump bandage or stump shrinker make sure there isn't any cold draft and that your hands are warm. The nerves are highly agitated and overtransmit sensations - hence the phantom pain.
She needs to be on pain medication around the clock. NO SHE WILL NOT GET ADDICTED. Addiction only happens when someone takes medication for which they have no need - not when they are taking them for real pain - and phantom limb pain IS real pain
Phantom limb pain is not the same as phantom sensation. Phantom limb pain is a very unpleasant sensory experience. The amputee feels a hot, burning or shooting pain from the site of the amputation. It can feels achy, squeezy or tight. the research showst the phantom pain is the result of abnormal sensory processing inside the nervous system. About 2/3 of all amputees will experience phantom pain at some point. Luckily most of the patients say the sensations fade as the limb heals - but it takes a long time since bone is involved and the covering of the bone is rich with nerve endings.
Only a very small percentage have long term phantom pain.
Why some have worse pain than others seems to be related to how much pain the leg had before the amputation. Elderly patients with peripheral vascular disease often are in excruciating pain before surgery that is not relieved by oral meds or injections. Surgeons who have experience with this problem will aggressively treat the pain prior to the amputation - even to the point of performing an epidural block and numbing the limb for a period of time prior to surgery - this way the brain will remember little or no pain having existed prior to the amputation.
Now, what can be done for mom now? One of the best and safest treatments is biofeedback. Because of her age, powerful drugs need to be used judiciously as they can impair breathing and lead to pneumonia. Biofeedback works in up to 80% of the patients with phantom pain.
Wearing a very tight stump sock helps. Also, a TENS unit that emits a low level electric stimulation interrupts the pain signal and calms the effect.
Some surgeons will perform a nerve block to relieve the pain - and this is very effective as well - but is used only when other treatments fail.
there is a terrific website for persons with phantom limb pain:
Good luck. I will offer prayers for her quick recovery.
http://www.disaboom.com/Health/amputatio...
man- i have never encoutered any medicine that has reileved it- that is a very sad thing, and i'm terribly sorry she has to go through it- but until you ask the doc about stuff (hopefully someone else will have more experience with it will answer)
http://hometown.aol.com/alegnomore/amput...
look at this site, hope that it will help. God bless you!
Very true & very real pain sensations. You would best be advised to consult her physician, even a Neurologist if possible, or Rheumatologist. There are medications that can be taken to alleviate nerve pain which is what she probably would benefit by taking. I am surprised that her Dr. doesn't have her on something that is supposed to be doing that for her now. Another reason to speak to a Dr., she may simply benefit from a dosage adjustment. Many anti-depressants also are helpful in alleviating phantom pains. Also you may look in your telephone directory for medical assistance. They now have medical info hotlines for questions/answers/referrals & the like. Visit www.WebMd.com for more information & easy to understand medical terms, guidance & further options you may find beneficial.
Take care~
This is normal. If you speak to her doctor he/she will explain this to you. It may never go away, but if she understands why the nerve endings are continuing to exhibit a sensation it may help, or fade in time.
It might sound crazy, but energy work, such as Reiki, and massages that include the amputated limb as if it were still there, are highly effective in relieving pain.
The effects might be only psychological - but seeing as how one of the theories for phantom limb pain is that it's all, or partially, 'in the head' (the individual is mentally unable to let go of the limb), it makes sense that an outside party acknowledging and caring for the loss, will help the individual to heal.
Then again, it might not be psychological at all. Modern physics shows us that all things are simply energy at different vibrational levels, including the human body.